truth 0r DARE

I would like to discuss some numbers I encountered recently in the context of two publications that were supporting the narrative that opiates are a desperately urgent issue for the general American Public. For the first part of this exploration, we will take the reported numbers at face value, momentarily setting aside circumstances that… Read more

Why are Both Parties, GOP & DNC, on the same side of the War on Drugs? Where is the Loyal Opposition? Here’s what I am thinking. The war on drugs has been a boon to both parties – the GOP gets to look tough on crime by defining all recreational drug use is crime,… Read more

The Don’t Punish Pain Rally Saturday April 7 2018 at Olympia Washington was attended by about 2 dozen people. It was a great opportunity to network with other pain patients and learn what efforts have already been going on. Much thanks to all who attended, and to all who were with us in spirit but… Read more

If rehab were a drug, would there be demands to make it illegal? According to this report, published by the US government, supposedly as evidence of the efficacy of drug rehab for heroin users, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC153851/ (The study was done in the UK, but this publication is from the US government) “Patients who “successfully” completed inpatient… Read more

Suppose the numbers of deaths the government attributes to opiates is accurate – and there’s a huge problem with this, as in this CDC report’s own words: “The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, several factors related to death investigation might affect estimates of death rates involving specific… Read more

A couple of friends suggested that it’s ok to post some relatable humor among all the numbers, stats, facts and issues. This post is just for laughs, and not meant as an insult to any patients or professionals who have reason to deal with pain charts and pain contracts. Medical Establishment Pain Contract The purpose… Read more

From the wild old days of alcohol prohibition that birthed the social phenomenon of organized crime, we have been told – mostly by our government, also by Hollywood (encouraged by government in the form of the ONDCP) and by the kind of moral busybodies who can’t stand the idea that someone somewhere might be having… Read more

I intend for this post to contain some stories that will be more entertaining and somewhat less data-driven than some of the other text I will be posting. So let’s start with researching murderers who used opiates as their weapon. I was surprised to discover only three court cases in the US… Read more

Currently, the US conversation about opiates centers on the reported increases in recent years in the numbers of deaths of opiate users. Unfortunately, there is not sufficient comparable data to determine whether the deaths can be accurately attributed to opiates, so there’s no way to know if deaths of opiate users are going… Read more

According to the US federal government and the media we are in the Midst of an Opiate Death Epidemic – overdose deaths surpassing deaths from auto crashes. That would be 40,755 reported overdose deaths (all drug overdoses reported not just opiates) in 2014, versus 35,398 car crash deaths in 2014 in a population of 317,000,000.… Read more